Dwyane Wade suffers ankle injury as Heat lose again in Denver

The mile-high air didn't seemed to affect the Miami Heat last night in Denver, at least not until the 4^th quarter. The Nuggets scored the first 9 points of the final period, opening up a 14-point lead and coming away with a convincing 117-104 victory over the Heat. The loss was the third straight for Miami, all coming in a 4-day span while on a west coast road trip.

The loss in Denver was made even worse because Dwyane Wade, already dealing with a bruised left foot, sprained his right ankle in the 4^th quarter and called it the most painful sprain he's ever endured, saying "It never hurt that bad before." Initially Wade thought that it was broken, but breathed a sigh of relief when x-rays came back negative.

The Heat are off until Tuesday night when they'll welcome the San Antonio Spurs to Miami, though its probable that Dwyane will be held out of the lineup to heal his injuries. Along with the foot and ankle ailments, Wade also sustained a calf injury during the Heat's overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers last Wednesday night. The team didn't disclose the injury though; it was LeBron James that informed the media:

"D has a lot of injuries going on, ankle and foot, strained his calf in the Clipper game, so, you know, he has a few injuries there he's just trying to fight through. So hopefully he can take these next couple of days, get off his feet, get the trainers involved, feel a lot better on Tuesday."

GAME NOTES

• Udonis Haslem picked up his third double double of the season, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds. He has double-figure boards in 8 of the Heat's 12 games this year.
• LeBron James scored 35 points, his 5^th straight game against the Nuggets with at least 30 points. He's only won 2 of those games though.
• D-Wade didn't record a blocked shot for the first time in 12 games. He sustained his ankle injury trying to block a shot.
• Miami has now lost 10 consecutive games at the Pepsi Center.
• Norris Cole picked up 13 points and Mario Chalmers added 10, though Rio had just 2 assists and Cole had none.
• Terrel Harris (6) and Mickell Gladness (3) played more minutes then James Jones (2).
• Dexter Pittman played twice as much as Joel Anthony, with size seeming to come at a premium against the Nuggets.

With a few days off until their next game, the Heat will get some much needed rest and valuable practice time. Tuesday's game against the Spurs was voted by NBA TV viewers as their choice for fan-night, so those of you outside of Miami will get to see the game.